Research & Commentary: Alabama Should Re-Implement Work Requirements for SNAP

In this Research & Commentary, Matthew Glans examines a new bill in Alabama that would add work requirements to the state’s food stamp program.

In 2018, Alabama legislators will consider a bill that would add work requirements to the state’s food stamp program. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the fourth-largest means-tested program for low-income families and individuals. One of the biggest problems with SNAP and a primary reason it grew so rapidly during the recent recession is that most states do not require recipients to actively seek employment.

Ordinarily, low-income, able-bodied adults without children are limited to receiving food stamps for only three months in a three-year period, unless they fulfill work requirements, which entail employment or participation in a training or “workfare” program for at least 20 hours per week. However, between 2009 and 2010 many states waived these requirements. As a result, 44 percent of SNAP recipients are neither employed nor actively searching for work. According to The Daily Signal, the SNAP caseload for low-income, able-bodied adults without children has skyrocketed over the past decade, from 900,000 in 2008 to 4.2 million in 2017, creating an additional cost of $8.5 billion per year for taxpayers.

In the past few years, states have begun to reinstate food stamp work requirements. Some did so of their own accord, while other states were no longer deemed eligible by the federal government to waive the requirements. Although some people will lose their food stamp benefits as these waivers end, the growth of SNAP is unsustainable. The real focus of the program must be temporary aid that encourages work and independence.

Under the law proposed in Alabama, the commissioner of the state’s Department of Human Resources would be prohibited from requesting a waiver of federal work requirements. The bill would also require able-bodied adults without dependents who are applicants or recipients of SNAP benefits to “participate in minimum work requirements, provide documentation of engaging in work training, or participate in volunteer community service and would provide limited exemptions from these work requirements.”

States that have enacted work requirements have enjoyed significant success. In Maine, able-bodied adult recipients without dependent children are required to work, participate in a work program for 20 hours per week, or do community service for about six hours per week. Since the reforms were implemented, the caseload in Maine for this population quickly dropped by 80 percent, falling from 13,332 in December 2014 to 2,678 recipients in March 2015. According to The Heritage Foundation, many individuals in Maine chose to leave the SNAP program rather than participate in training or community service, which means these individuals likely had other means of supporting themselves.

Work requirements are an important component of any welfare program; they ensure recipients do not become unnecessarily dependent on government aid. States should require all able-bodied recipients to engage in work-related activities to be eligible for food stamps, and lawmakers should reform other government assistance programs that trap low-income Americans in poverty by disincentivizing work.

The following articles provide additional information on SNAP.

The Power of Work: How Kansas’ Welfare Reform Is Lifting Americans Out of Povertyhttps://thefga.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/PowerOfWork-KansasWelfareReform.pdf
In this study published by the Foundation for Government Accountability, Nic Horton and Jonathan Ingram examine Kansas’ welfare reforms and the effect they have had on food stamp enrollment. “With no welfare work requirement or time limit, just one in five able-bodied adults on food stamps worked. Nearly 93 percent of them were in poverty, most in severe poverty. Since implementing work requirements and time limits, the number of able-bodied adults on food stamps has dropped by 75 percent,” the authors wrote.

Maine Food Stamp Work Requirement Cuts Non-Parent Caseload by 80 Percenthttp://www.heritage.org/welfare/report/maine-food-stamp-work-requirement-cuts-non-parent-caseload-80-percent#_ftnref36
Robert Rector, Rachel Sheffield, and Kevin Dayaratna of The Heritage Foundation examine Maine’s food stamp reforms and discuss how they could act as a model for other states. “The Maine food stamp work requirement is sound public policy. Government should aid those in need, but welfare should not be a one-way handout. Able-bodied, nonelderly adults who receive cash, food, or housing assistance from the government should be required to work or prepare for work as a condition of receiving aid. Giving welfare to those who refuse to take steps to help themselves is unfair to taxpayers and fosters a harmful dependence among beneficiaries,” the authors wrote.

Food Stamp Dependence in the States http://thefga.org/solutions/food-stamps/
This interactive map from Foundation for Government Accountability shows what percentage of each state’s population is dependent on food stamps and how much it costs the state.

Nothing in this Research & Commentary is intended to influence the passage of legislation, and it does not necessarily represent the views of The Heartland Institute. For further information on this and other topics, visit the Budget & Tax News website, The Heartland Institute’s website, and PolicyBot, Heartland’s free online research database.

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